


Crossed Purposes

by MrProphet



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 03:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10689192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrProphet/pseuds/MrProphet





	Crossed Purposes

Luke watched impatiently as Maria worked the lock.

“Why is it Mum only ever gives sonic lipsticks to the girls?” he wondered.

“Because you’d get beaten up if you were carrying around lippy?” Maria suggested.

“At Oxford?” Luke was unconvinced.

Maria tried the sonic lipstick again, with no success. “I don’t understand why it’s not working!” she snapped.

“Let me see,” Luke suggested. He stepped past her and examined the lock, his hands flickering rapidly over the controls. “It’s a half deadlock,” he realised. “Try again.”

He kept working the key while Maria played the sonic beam up and down and the lock released with a clunk. “There,” she said. “Teamwork.”

Luke grinned, but a moment later he was all seriousness. “Someone’s coming,” he warned. They ducked through the door and closed it behind them with a soft click.

They found themselves in a huge, open warehouse, filled with racks and racks of shelves. As they watched, the shelves in the nearest rack rattled into life, rolling down so that what had been a high shelf was now in easy reach.

They ducked out of sight as a man appeared at the end of the row and walked along to collect a box form the shelf. For a moment he looked right at them, but he took the box and walked away without comment.

“What was that about?” Maria wondered.

“His eyes were glazed,” Luke replied, “as though he were hypnotised. And did you see those earpieces? Like…” He paused. “Do you remember the Cybermen?”

Maria frowned. “German electronic band?”

“Alien cyborgs; invaded Earth at least twice,” Luke explained. “You’ve forgotten them, like people have forgotten the Daleks and the Sontarans.”

“I remember the Sontarans,” she assured him.

He nodded. “You were involved; we all were. More than most people. But the Daleks, the sky full of planets, most people are kind of hazy on that.”

“Sky full of…?” Maria fell silent and pressed into the gap between the shelves beside Luke as the door opened again, this time with a creak of tearing metal. A slim girl stepped through, followed by a teenage boy.

“Nice,” the boy said. “I’m sure no-one heard that.”

“There was no-one in auditory range in the corridor,” the girl assured him. “Only two people in this room heard.” Her head snapped around to look directly at Luke and Maria. “They aren’t supposed to be here either.”

Luke waved awkwardly. “Hi.”

The boy peered into the gap. “Hi.”

Luke squeezed out of the gap and Maria followed. “Hello,” she said to the boy, while Luke went straight up to the girl and stared at her.

“I’m Maria; this is Luke.”

“John,” the boy replied. “This is my sister, Cameron.”

“You’re a cyborg,” Luke told the girl.

Cameron cocked her head on one side. “I should kill them,” she decided.

“Whoa!” John protested. “We’re here for the machines, not visiting school kids.”

“Technically, I’m a university student,” Luke noted, but Maria elbowed him in the ribs.

“Not helping!”

“Oh, well in that case, you’re not going to kill us because you need our help,” Luke said. “You’re not based on Cyber-technology, which means you’re not here because of them and that means you don’t know about the Cybermen, so you need me.”

“I do not know the designation ‘Cyberman’,” Cameron admitted.

“You surprise me,” Luke replied.

“Okay, good; no killing,” John said. “We always like the no killing option, right Cameron?”

“Right,” she agreed without conviction, although without notable regret either.

“Good, now… Luke, right? What’s a Cyberman?”

As one, Luke and Cameron looked around. It took several moments for Maria and John to hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.

“ _They_ are.”


End file.
